Hardcores and Casuals: Limelight Looks at the State of Esports Study reveals fans like watching as much as playing videogames online By Troy Dreier, Contributor, Streaming & Digital
Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - 10:23 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Playing games is serious work, as the newly released Limelight report The State of Online Gaming 2018 points out. People who play videogames play them a lot, averaging almost 6 hours per week. For 18- to 25-year-olds, the average is more than 7 hours. Plus, the average playing session is 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Fans aren't just playing games online; they're watching them, too - so much so that traditional sports leagues have a reason to be worried. Adults 18 to 25 years old spend an hour more each week watching online gaming than they spend watching broadcast sports. In Japan and South Korea, adults of any age spend more time watching online gaming than broadcast sports.
Limelight's Mike Milligan: Online gaming is becoming a true sport to [fans], and they are devoting a lot more time to watching people do that.
For Mike Milligan, a senior director at Limelight, this points to a fundamental change in what is considered sports. The definition of sports is blurred quite a bit for many younger people, so, to them, it's not just watching players out in a physical field competing against each other head to- head. Online gaming is becoming a true sport to them, and they are devoting a lot more time to watching people do that.
Subculture is becoming culture, and it's all happening much faster than Milligan would have imagined. Sports figures, such as Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, are keeping ahead of the trend by acquiring their own esports leagues (in November, Jones became part owner of compLexity Gaming). Considering how smart the sports professionals are who are getting involved - and how well they can market sports and build interest - Milligan sees a day coming when a top esports competition attracts more interest than the Super Bowl.
For some fans, going pro is the real dream. Limelight surveyed 3,000 people in six countries - the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Japan, and South Korea - and considered anyone who played more than once per week a gamer. It asked how many would like to quit their jobs and go pro if it would support them, and about one-third of respondents would like to go pro, with the highest rates in the U.K. (41.8%) and the U.S. (35.4%).
The term gamer suggests a hardcore fan playing on a gaming computer, but Limelight defines it more broadly. Anyone playing on a mobile phone is a gamer, which is why the report divides players into casuals and hardcores. Casual games are huge business, and the report points out that they're played more often than other types. More than 20% of gamers play less than an hour each week, and casuals prefer phone gaming. The hardcore segment is growing, though, and men especially like first-person shooters. Limelight considers people who play online games more than 7 hours a week as hardcore.
Among the questions the Limelight survey asked: Would you quit your job if you could support yourself as a videogame player?
The report points out differences in how men and women game. Men play for longer periods of time and choose consoles or dedicated gaming computers more often. Women are more likely to be casual phone gamers.
Limelight also found differences in how countries game. In South Korea, for example, a large percent of the population games every week but not for that long, averaging 4.42 hours per week. The country with the highest average time spent gaming was the UK: 7.15 hours per week.
People in the U.S., Japan, and South Korea game most often on their phones. People in the UK, France, and Germany were more likely to choose a computer. South Korea had the highest rate of people downloading games, with 93% downloading games each year. For some countries, Milligan notes, gaming is a bigger part of the culture and is more of a social online activity.
Hardcore young gamers are more willing to pay to download games, the report points out, a situation that can help companies creating a monetization strategy. Ad strategies work best for casual gamers, who are often unwilling to pay for games.
One of our recommendations was to make it easy for people to try your content to understand if they really want to make the financial investment in your content before they pay, Milligan says. Because, certainly, creating games is great, but we know that the game manufacturers want to be able to try to monetize that as much as we can.
Although not every player is a hardcore gamer, the interest in esports is picking up fast. Leagues looking to capitalize on the momentum should start by taking a look at Limelight's report.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
18/05/2026
Despite a bumpy start to the year, the provider of event-production support and ...
18/05/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the University of North Carolina to manufacture and install 11 LED displays totaling more than 10,000 square feet and more than 14...
18/05/2026
CBS LA has announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, covering exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games, weekly year-round programm...
18/05/2026
Skyline Communications has announced an integration between its DataMiner xOps p...
18/05/2026
eCLUTCH, the hybrid esports platform powered by iKOMG, has announced an expansion of its distribution across Europe, MENA, Africa, and Asia, along with new cont...
18/05/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/05/2026
With 22 games this season, the production team looks forward to tweaking and enhancing the coverage
After 8,660 days off the air, the WNBA returned to NBC yest...
18/05/2026
(L-R) Midori Francis and Natalie Erika James attend the Saccharine premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 22, 2026, in ...
18/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
18/05/2026
ZEN-Core synth goes mobile
Roland's powerful ZEN-Core software synthesizer has just been introduced to the iPad, offering a convenient entry point into ...
18/05/2026
Versatile new limiter plug-in announced
Based in Sheffield, UK, fedDSP offer a range of plug-ins that span the music production, live sound and high-end med...
18/05/2026
A new use for convolution?
Viiri Audio's debut plug-in aims to do something a little different with convolution processing, allowing users to adjust all...
18/05/2026
Delta Goodrem shines for SBS as more than 3.27 million Australians tune in for E...
18/05/2026
The Australian Defence Force uses L3Harris T4 and T7 robots for explosive ordnan...
18/05/2026
Continued investment across Europe and Germany is expanding local teams and improving access to stock, regional expertise, and specialist broadcast support.
CV...
18/05/2026
18 May 2026
Dubai and New York, May 18, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a glob...
18/05/2026
Monday 18 May 2026
Sky News offers ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes for just...
18/05/2026
Comscore March 2026 Consumer AI Chatbot Usage Rankings Show Claude Gaining Share OpenAI's ChatGPT maintains lead while Anthropic's Claude continues to c...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
17/05/2026
Back to All News
Oasis Premieres on Netflix June 19
Entertainment
17 May 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Summer, sunshine, the beach, parties. T...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
Besides drawing on experience with boxing, the production integrates specialty c...
Hardcores and Casuals: Limelight Looks at the State of Esports Study reveals fans like watching as much as playing videogames online By Troy Dreier, Contributor, Streaming & Digital 
